Fake Dhammapadas

Question

I am only getting fake and/or altered versions of the Dhammapada. This is a serious problem. They get changed regularly, sometimes a verse is just completely false as it describes something that is not Right View, other times the translations are poor, some verses seem untouched. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Answer 1

I'm aware of three versions in English

• https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html -- I think of this as "standard"

• https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.than.html -- I think of this as "poetic" (and a looser translation)

• https://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/ -- this says of itself ...

  It only remains for me now to express my deep and sincere gratitude to the members of the Editorial Committee, Burma Pitaka Association, for having meticulously gone through the script; to Sayagyi Dhammacariya U Aung Moe and to U Thein Maung, editor, Burma Pitaka Association, for helping in the translation of the verses.

  ... so I guess it thoroughly reviewed (not just one author), and based on Burmese version. The translations for example here include the Pali and the "background story" for each verse -- so if you doubt a translation then you can see the Pali easily.

I guess word-for-word translations are rarely perfect or only approximate (e.g. the three translations translate averena as "non-hatred", "non-hostility", and/or "loving-kindness").

There's also https://suttacentral.net/dhp which has:

• One of the English-language translations
• "20 translations in other modern languages"
• "1 edition of the root text" (which, I'm not sure, might be a copy of the Pali Text Society 2nd edition).

Answer 2

Experiences are matter of ones own kamma, heritage, or on a more refined level, a matter of touch.

So it's not clear of what does the question seek for. Truth in things that are not, assuming that when others experiences something similar, it must be real?

Those who regard non-essence as essence and see essence as non-, don't get to the essence, ranging about in wrong resolves.

But those who know essence as essence, and non-essence as non-, get to the essence, ranging about in right resolves.

Yamakavagga: Pairs

(not given for exchange, trade, stacks, gain... that binds to the world but for liberation)